European Old Testament Tragedies in the Age of Enlightenment

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The proposed doctoral project explores how tragedies based on the Old Testament constitute an innovative literary genre in the European eighteenth century. Tragedy has been highly debated in Europe ever since, and in the eighteenth century, theoretical treatises on the genre abounded. But although there was an upsurge in Old Testament tragedies then, the question of how biblical subjects should be dramatised was scarcely discussed. This is noteworthy, as tragedy was originally embedded in an inherently religious context, the Dionysia in ancient Greece. The insufficient preoccupation with biblical tragedy in eighteenth-century thought did not prevent authors like the German Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, the Swiss Johann Jakob Bodmer, or the Dane Johannes Ewald from dramatising Old Testament narratives and thus appropriating tragedy for Christian religion. Beyond the German-speaking and Scandinavian sphere, authors like Voltaire, the Italian Vittorio Alfieri, and the English writer Hannah More devoted tragedies to subjects taken from the Old Testament, though with a much more political character. The current state of the art of the research on these tragedies is limited. Murray Roston reconstructs the history of anglophone biblical drama in his book Biblical Drama in England from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (1968), but neglects the transnational context of the genre. Daniel Weidner examines eighteenth-century religious literature in his book Bibel und Literatur um 1800 (2011), but without a narrow focus on tragedy. Lynette R. Muir's The Biblical Drama of Medieval Europe (1995) deals with medieval biblical drama. Hence, a comparative analysis of eighteenth-century European Old Testament tragedies is overdue. The following questions serve as the starting point of the proposed thesis: How do European Old Testament tragedies from the eighteenth century constitute a transnational literary genre, to what extent do they incorporate potentially conflicting notions of Christian faith and enlightenment thought, and what is the innovative character of the genre?The key hypothesis is that the genre of Old Testament tragedy in eighteenth-century Europe has two main currents: the German-speaking and Scandinavian sphere conceives the genre as a means for conveying the Christian message, while those beyond this sphere, mainly Romance and English writers, use it rather for the advancement of their own political stances. What both have in common, however, are not only their literary sources of inspiration-John Milton's religious epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) and Jean Racine's biblical tragedy Athalie (1691)-but also the untragic ending they introduce, an innovation untypical of tragedy.By tracing the transnational similarities and divergences of tragedies from different language areas, the proposed thesis helps better understand the constitution and innovations of European Old Testament tragedies as a genre in the Age of Enlightenment. The tragedies and relevant paratexts will be subjected to close readings, supplemented by research literature. Divided into four chapters, the first chapter examines the role of Milton's Paradise Lost and Racine's Athalie as precursors of eighteenth-century Old Testament tragedy. The second chapter focuses on Klopstock's Der Tod Adams (1757), Ewald's Adam og Ewa (1769), and Bodmer's Der Tod des ersten Menschen (1776), followed by the third chapter on Voltaire's Saul et David (1762), Alfieri's Saul (1782), and More's David and Goliath (1782). The fourth chapter examines the transition to Romanticism by the example of George Gordon Byron's Cain. A Mystery (1821).In the academic year 2020/21, I have finalised the selection of tragedies, sifted through research literature, and outlined the definitive structure of my thesis. I have also written a draft of the first chapter and started writing the second chapter.